The Arts Alliance of Greater Waynesboro / Destination ARTS! presents its second annual Destination JAZZ event on Saturday, April 26 from 4:30 to 8:30 pm at the Waynesboro Area Senior High School auditorium, located at 550 East 2nd Street, Waynesboro, PA.
Headlining this year’s festival is the powerhouse jazz septet The Cookers, featuring Eddie Henderson (trumpet), David Weiss (trumpet), Azar Lawrence (tenor sax), Craig Handy (alto sax), George Cables (piano), Cecil McBee (bass), and Billy Hart (drums).
The Waynesboro Area Senior High Jazz Band, under the direction of Christopher Ritter, and the Chambersburg Area Senior High School Jazz Band, under the direction of Nicole Albright, will open the festivities with performances starting at 4:30 p.m., followed by the Cookers at 7:00 pm.Deemed “a dream team” by The New York Times, The Cookers is an all-star group of leaders who summon up an aggressive mid ‘60s spirit with a potent collection of expansive post-bop originals marked by all the requisite killer instincts and pyrotechnic playing expected of some of the heaviest hitters on the scene today.After 17 years together, The Cookers, according to The Boston Globe, “embody the serious-as-death commitment that it took to thrive on the New York scene some four decades ago” The Cookers recently released their sixth album, Look Out!, the follow-up album to five critically-acclaimed recordings.
Tickets are being offered two for one on a limited time basis. Purchase here.
Eddie Henderson (trumpet), Cecil McBee (bass), George Cables (piano), and Billy Hart (drums) all came up in the heady era of the mid ‘60s. It was a period that found the dimensions of hard bop morphing from their original designs, and these musicians helped facilitate the process as members of some of the era’s most important bands.Hart and Henderson were members of Herbie Hancock’s groundbreaking Mwandishi group.
Henderson also played with Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Johnny Griffin, McCoy Tyner, the Latin band Azteca, and many more.
Hart (an NEA Jazz Master) has long been one of the most highly respected drummers in the world, gracing the bands of Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, McCoy Tyner, Stan Getz, and Miles Davis—to name a few.
McBee anchored Charles Lloyd’s great ’60s quartet alongside Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette and has also recorded with Wayne Shorter, Chet Baker, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, and McCoy Tyner. Cables held down the piano chair in numerous bands including groups led by Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Dexter Gordon, and Art Pepper.
David Weiss (trumpet) gained experience performing with Freddie Hubbard, Charles Tolliver, Billy Harper, Slide Hampton, Louis Hayes, and more.
Azar Lawrence (tenor sax) has recorded/wrote for luminaries such as Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Busta Rhymes, Roberta Flack, and Phyllis Hyman, as well as writing and performing on Earth, Wind & Fire’s highly acclaimed platinum album Powerlight.
Craig Handy (alto sax) toured with Herbie Hancock in the late 1990s and has recorded or toured with John Scofield, Charles Tolliver, Wynton Marsalis, Art Blakey, Joe Henderson, Betty Carter, Abdullah Ibrahim, and the John Hicks Legacy Band.
Underground Railroad
